Macau International Airport carried out its annual fuel farm exercise today (06 April 2016) to simulate a fire in the farm for testing and assessing the capacity of the government entities and the operators in handling the fuel farm emergency when a case arises. All entities involved cooperated closely with each other in resolving the crisis. The exercise was deemed smooth.
The “Fire in the Fuel Farm Exercise 2017” started at 14:30 and ended in one hour. The scenario was of a fire incident taking place in a fuel tank top due to static electricity. Nam Kwong Petroleum & Chemicals Co. Ltd., the fuel provider, immediately activated the safety systems according to their internal procedures and moved away the vehicles that were parked in the area. Simultaneously, they informed all concerned entities involved in the emergency in accordance with the Airport Emergency Plan. The airport fire fighting station delivered their trucks immediately to the spot to put off the fire. Although there were no injuries, the commander-in-chief asked for additional support from the Fire Services Headquarters and evacuated the staff in the vicinity of the incident, considering the high critical degree of the incident area.
The exercise was coordinated by the Administration of Airports, Ltd. The communication between all personnel involved and the delivery of fire fighting facilities went on efficiently; the staffs were evacuated in a timely and orderly manner. About 300 people took part in the exercise, who represented the Unitary Police, the Public Security Police Force, the Fire Services, the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR, CAM-Macau International Airport Company Ltd., the Administration of Airports Ltd., Nam Kwong Petroleum & Chemicals Company Ltd., the Macau Security Company Ltd., Menzies Macau Airport Services Ltd., MCS-Macau Catering Services Company Ltd., Air Macau Company Ltd. and Jet Asia Ltd.